Phil Lesh, bassist and founder of Grateful Dead, dies at age 84

Phil Lesh, a founding member of the Grateful Dead whose nuanced bass playing made him the architect of the band’s otherworldly sound, died Friday at the age of 84, according to his Instagram account.

Tributes from the music world poured in, and New York’s Empire State Building said it would illuminate the skyscraper in tie-dye colors to honor a member of the psychedelic band known for lengthy improvisations in its live shows, which dedicated ‘ Dead Head’ attracted fans, known for traveling from concert to concert.

The Instagram post said he died peacefully, surrounded by family.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked Lesh as the eleventh greatest bassist of all time, although he also sang lead and background vocals. Many fans considered him as influential as the band’s frontman, Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

“His idea – ‘playing bass and lead at the same time,’ his notes firing in and around the melody – became as recognizable a part of the Dead’s sound as Garcia’s guitar,” Rolling Stone said.

“Phil was more than a revolutionary, groundbreaking bassist – he transformed the way I thought about music as a teenager,” Trey Anastasio, Phish’s lead guitarist, wrote on Instagram.

Formed in 1965 in California, The Dead came to prominence during San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love, a counterculture movement that embraced peace, love and hallucinogenic drugs.

But The Dead’s music survived much longer as a mix of rock, folk, country and jazz.

After Garcia’s death, longtime players Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart formed various lineups under the name Dead & Company, while Lesh opted to form Phil Lesh and Friends, which played until 2023.

Philip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California, and began playing classical violin before switching to “cool jazz” big band trumpet, according to his official Dead biography.

He later studied with experimental Italian composer Luciano Berio before his friend Garcia told him in 1965 that he was the new bassist for the Warlocks, Garcia’s band that was a forerunner of the Grateful Dead.

Lesh replied: “Why not?”

Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill Lesh, and their two sons, Grahame and Brian.